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The language of lizards: interpreting the function of visual displays of the Indian rock lizard, Psammophilus dorsalis (Agamidae)

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Abstract

The first step in understanding any communication system is to document signal diversity relative to the context of signalling (e.g. sex of the signaller and audience). Observation of 30 free-ranging rock lizards (Psammophilus dorsalis) on rock outcrops in southern India over a period of 18 months revealed that these lizards produce a complex array of ritualized signals involving push-ups (head-bobbing), dorsal flattening, extension of the legs or gular region, and tail-raising. Push-ups were performed by both sexes, usually after moving from one location to another. Push-ups were rarely accompanied by other postural modifications, and seem to function as non-directed signals. Dorsal flattening was elicited by birds flying overhead, and seems to make the lizard less conspicuous to predators. There was, nonetheless, a strong sex difference in the frequency of this behaviour, because the habitats used by males (open rocks) exposed them to more birds. Males displayed to females by extending their gular folds and arching their backs; other animals (e.g. squirrels, monkeys) also elicited the latter posture from both sexes. Leg extension was observed for both males and females, but in different contexts—males in response to conspecifics, females in response to other animals. Females raised their tails in response to encountering a male. Thus, these lizards have a complex repertoire of postures for predator evasion, for interaction with other species and with conspecifics, and for communicating sex-specific social information about gender (tail-raise) or dominance status (gular extension, leg extension).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR, India) Associateship awarded to RSR, Special Assistance Programme (SAP-II) University Grant Commission (UGC, India) sanctioned to Department of Zoology Karnatak University Dharwad and by the Australian Research Council (to RS). Authors thank Professor R.Gadagkar, Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for his keen interest in this study. We thank Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Bangalore for permitting us to study rock lizards.

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  1. Department of Zoology, Karnatak University, 580003, Dharwad, India

    Rajkumar S. Radder, Srinivas K. Saidapur & Bhagyashri A. Shanbhag

  2. The School of Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, 2006, NSW, Australia

    Rajkumar S. Radder & Richard Shine

  3. The School of Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, 2006, NSW, Australia

    Rajkumar S. Radder

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  1. Rajkumar S. Radder
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  2. Srinivas K. Saidapur
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Correspondence to Bhagyashri A. Shanbhag.

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Radder, R.S., Saidapur, S.K., Shine, R. et al. The language of lizards: interpreting the function of visual displays of the Indian rock lizard, Psammophilus dorsalis (Agamidae). J Ethol 24, 275–283 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-006-0192-8

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